"Where's the junkyard?" That's a question Cale Reed often gets when people visit Jim's Import Auto Salvage in Sebring, Fla. The operation is so clean that it's nicer than many doctors' offices, according to Reed. It's one of the reasons that the facility is so successful and why Reed was named Most Influential Facility Manager.

Facility management refers to integrating people, a place, a process and technology. It's challenging to do in any industry but recycling presents its own unique problems, from environmental regulations to storage and delivery. Reed handles it seemingly effortlessly, perhaps because he's grown up in the business. He's part of the second generation at Jim's Import Auto Salvage, one of two businesses owned by his father, Jim Reed. Reed's brothers Jeff and Dale manage the domestic side.

Reed takes his job seriously with a passion he inherited from his father whom he describes as "the heart and soul of the business." The Reeds have been able to build a family enterprise that's setting the standard for how auto recycling businesses are run. It's an accomplishment that speaks to the hard work of the family who turned five acres and 1,000-square-feet of office space into 35 acres with about 20,000-square-feet of office space.

Not surprisingly, the work has paid off. The business earned the ARA Improvement Beautification Award back in 1997. Touches like crystal chandeliers, hardwood railings and beautifully painted murals create a sophisticated, and decidedly not salvaged, atmosphere. But the ordered rows of parts and cars are there as well, along with a state-of-the-art dismantling area.

"It's like walking into the lobby of a bank," said Jim Seamans, outside sales for the domestic end of operations. "It's really an exceptional place. If you go upstairs, there's a boardroom for meetings with a 60-inch TV, a pool table and a full kitchen. Cale recently readied the place for the IT conference. We had a ton of people here and it just sparkled.

"It's truly a beautiful facility and Cale does an outstanding job running it," continued Seamans. "He's got a real passion for the industry. He's constantly out there working. He's a hands-on manager which has made him very successful."